For author Aaron Kyte, writing a Christmas romance was about more than creating a feel-good holiday story.
It was about creating the kind of love story he wishes he could have found on a bookshelf growing up.
Kyte’s debut novel, A Christmas Inn, Maine, was released Oct 13 through Avon, an imprint of Harper Collins. The queer romance puts a queer twist on the familiar holiday love stories often associated with Hallmark movies.
The author, who grew up in Dartmouth and whose family now lives in Cape Breton, is returning to Nova Scotia for an author event Nov 7 at 6pm at the Indigo book store in Bayers Lake. The event will include a conversation with Kyte and a book signing.
The novel follows Adam Wheatley, a big-city book editor who loses both his job and his fiancée on the same day. Forced to return to his small hometown in Maine, he discovers that his aunt’s bed and breakfast is struggling financially.
His plans become complicated when he meets Graham, who changes the direction of his life.
Representation
For Kyte, the story’s familiarity is part of its significance.
“I thought about being more subversive with the story. I thought about making fun of the form or challenging the form, but I really kind of felt like in this current climate, the most subversive thing I could do was to give two queer characters a love story that is usually reserved for straight people,” he said.
Growing up, Kyte said finding queer representation was considerably more difficult than it is for young readers today.
Without the internet, books and libraries were among his primary sources of discovering characters and stories that reflected his experiences. However, he often found queer characters relegated to supporting roles or portrayed negatively.
He recalled encountering characters who were killed off early in horror novels, with their deaths sometimes presented as a form of moral judgment.
“When I did find some, they were so powerful and exciting,” he said.
That experience continues to influence the stories he wants to tell.
Kyte said his motivation has always been to create books and projects that would have excited his 10-year-old self. Stories that would make him feel represented simply by seeing them on a bookshelf.
“I just want it to reach enough people and sell enough copies that I get to write more books,” he said. “I just want to keep writing stories that young me would love to see on a bookshelf and out in the world.”
The release also comes amid growing interest in LGBTQ+ fiction. Circana BookScan data reported to NBC News showed that LGBTQ+ fiction sales in North America reached 4.4 million units in the 12-month period ending in October 2023, an increase of 7% from the previous year and 200 per cent from the same period in 2019. By comparison, total fiction sales declined three per cent year over year during that period.
While the figures point to increased readership, Kyte’s experience highlights the personal significance behind that growth.
The path to publication
Before turning his attention to novels, Kyte spent more than a decade in theatre and television, working with Neptune Theatre, Eastern Front Theatre and other companies.
He began writing plays, some of which were workshopped, before deciding to focus on completing a novel.
The idea for his debut began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Noticing a lack of queer representation in holiday romances, he initially developed the story as a screenplay, hoping to get it produced.
Although the project attracted some interest, it did not move forward. Rather than abandon the story, Kyte returned to it about a year later and began reworking it into a novel.
At the time, he was also working for a software company, allowing him to explore his writing alongside his full-time employment.
Determined to develop his craft, he took courses through the Nova Scotia Writers’ Federation and other organizations, read books about writing and listened to writing podcasts.
He also joined a beta-reader group with three other writers based in Nova Scotia, Toronto and Florida. The group met regularly for nearly two years, sharing feedback and helping one another develop their manuscripts.
The path to publication, however, was far from straightforward.
Finding a literary agent took more than nine months and 85 rejections before one finally agreed to represent him.
Once his agent began submitting the manuscript to publishers, the book was picked up within approximately six weeks, resulting in a two-book deal.
Despite his previous experience in the arts, Kyte said the publishing industry has offered a notably different experience when it comes to creating queer stories.
He deliberately sought an agent who was enthusiastic about LGBTQ+ stories, and his editor at Harper Collins is also a queer woman. He said the feedback he received throughout the book’s development was overwhelmingly positive.
That experience contrasts with some of his years working in theatre, film and television, where he felt there could be pressure to keep his sexuality under wraps for fear of being typecast or losing opportunities.
Kyte said he often worried about how his sexuality might affect the roles he was offered, including whether casting directors would perceive him differently when playing traditionally masculine characters.
He did not come out to his parents until his 20s, when he brought a boyfriend home and had to explain their relationship.
Although he said his parents were supportive, the uncertainty he experienced earlier in life stayed with him.
His experience in publishing has been encouraging, he said, particularly compared with the sometimes complicated landscape of the performing arts.
Kyte is already working on his second novel, another holiday romance set in Vermont. The story follows a VIP resort host and a disgraced Olympic athlete. He is also considering a third book, with hopes of eventually turning the first two novels into a queer holiday trilogy.
For now, his focus is balancing promotion for his debut, editing his second book and continuing his full-time day job.
